


Now or Never

by jimmmmin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Hermione Granger & Draco Malfoy Friendship, Minister for Magic Hermione Granger, Post-Hogwarts, Smitten Draco Malfoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:14:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28894236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jimmmmin/pseuds/jimmmmin
Summary: Draco Malfoy should tell Hermione Granger about his feelings for her and soon. At least that's what his friends think. Is dressing up in a suit, lilies, and a jewellery box in his pocket the right way to do it?Only Hermione Granger can provide the answers (of course).
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Kudos: 33





	Now or Never

**Author's Note:**

> A whole lot of fluff and some more.

It’s now or never, Draco. Now or never. 

Picture this: the twenty-four old Malfoy heir standing at the door of the famous Weasley home, with a bunch of lilies in hand and a little something in his pockets. He was sure he looked like someone out of one of those Muggle movies Zabini was fond of. He was sure he looked like an idiot. Proclamations of love like these only worked good looking Australian actors did them not blonde pale British wizards. 

“I am nervous,” he whispered into his Muggle phone to Harry Potter. Blaise, Pansy, and Harry had convinced Draco to win over Hermione Granger with a grand gesture similar to the ones in movies. He had been hesitant but after seeing no saner idea, he had landed up here. 

“Just ring the bell, alright? Everyone is mostly out and about this evening, it’s a perfect opportunity.” 

“I will hate you forever, Potter,” he sighed and hung up. 

Before he could ring the bell, he did a spell to remove invisible lint from his suit. Oh, yes, he was in a suit. He will hate Pansy for this. 

‘Okay, Draco, do it. Just fucking do it,’ he said and rang the doorbell. 

After what seemed like two minutes, he heard Hermione waved out to him from the kitchen window. 

“Hello, can I come in?”

“Yes, of course, you weirdo,” Hermione smiled and opened the back door to him. 

“Thanks. How are you doing?” 

“I am good, I was cooking a meal for myself. Do you want to stay for dinner? I didn’t know you were dropping by tonight,” she smiled. 

“Oh, I was around and thought it would be nice to check in.”

“You were around the Burrow? In a suit?” she asked, checking him from head to toe. “Are those flowers for Molly? That’s so sweet, Draco!” 

“Um, no, actually.”

“Okay,” she shrugged and went back to the stove. “Dinner or no dinner?” 

“I will stay, please,” he whispered. 

“I am glad. I have been meaning to meet you but you never seem to be around off late! What’s been keeping you busy?” 

“I have been traveling a lot for work,” he sighed. 

“Is it getting tiresome? I think you make a great reporter for the Quibbler, Draco,” she laughed. 

“It’s a short stint, I lost a bet to Lovegood,” he mumbled looking away to hide his blush. After Hogwarts, Draco had gone off to Muggle university to study writing and wrote pieces for both Muggle and wizarding magazines. Two months ago, he had lost a bet about dragons to Luna and was now doing serving six months as a reporter for her magazine.   
“Let me know if you need help, please,” she said handing him a cup of tea. She searched his face, as if looking for an answer. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked. 

“Nothing,” she smiled. 

“I know that smile, Granger, come on,” he smiled and stepped closer to her. 

“I was admiring you in that suit,” she shrugged. She shrugged as if she hadn’t just complimented him. As if her honesty didn’t render him speechless. As if, oh god, this witch. 

“Thanks, Hermione,” he blushed. 

“Care to tell me why you are in a suit?” 

“I, um?” 

“Are you sure you are alright? You look a bit pale, even for you.” She put a hand on his forehead to check whether he was running a fever. “Oh, you are a bit warm. Do you want to take a nap?” 

“No, I am fine,” he said. “Thank you.” 

“I hope so. Alright, so dinner is almost done. Do you want to eat in the garden? It’s not every day I eat a meal alone at the Burrow.” 

“Yes, please. I will set the table up while you do your thing. I know you don’t like interruptions in the kitchen.” 

Setting up the lilies on the garden table, he used this time to collect his nerves and breathe. He was nervous, it was obvious even to Hermione, and he needed to pull himself together. This was a good chance to talk to her. To ask her out in a way he knew was right: through conversation and food. 

She joined him, dressed in an outfit that was, um, yeah, different than what she was wearing earlier in the kitchen. She might have noticed him looking at her because he saw her cheeks redden. 

“I thought I could clean up since you showed up in a suit,” she smiled. She was wearing a tiny blue dress and everything looked better than his imaginations. Of course, she was perfect. His puny, mortal brain couldn’t ever match up to what she was. 

“You look divine,” he mumbled making her laugh. Idiot. 

“So, Draco, how have you been?” she asked once their plates appeared in front of them. 

“I have been good, I guess.”

“You guess?” 

“Apart from the Quibbler gig, I haven't had time to focus on work nor have I had time to sit down with friends. I want time to unwind. Luna might look like a hippie floating on a field but she has high expectations. You can see it in her eyes every time she glances at you.”

“I know how that feels.”

“I am sorry, Hermione, but you are literally the best at your job. Will we be seeing you as Minister of Magic in the next elections? I have been hearing rumours in Gringotts,” he asked crossing his legs on the bench and leaning into her. Thank Merlin for proximity. 

“May I ask who’s been spreading these?” she grinned. Fuck. 

“It’s true, then?” 

“I don’t know, I have been contemplating on it. I am not too keen on it for several reasons. Anyway, it’s three years away.”

“Wow, you are nervous!” 

“Wouldn’t you be?” 

“I am not Hermione Granger and thus, I would never think of running for Minister of Magic.” 

“I am assuming I have your vote then?” 

“You have whatever you need, Granger,” he smiled. 

“Thanks, Draco.”

“You will be great at it,” he lay a reassuring hand on hers. “I can see the risks. You will be the youngest to run for Minister. There will also be a section of society who won’t be comfortable seeing you on that chair.”

“Funnily, those are not things I am fearing. I am sure I will have the support from the right people, including you.”

“Then what is it fear?” 

“I have spent my teenage years in the papers, I don’t know if I want that happen to repeat again.”

“But that’s happening even now.” 

“Yeah but it’s either my work or harmless gossip. Think about it, three years from now: I would maybe be with someone,” I’d rather not think about that “and my life might be different.” 

“Hermione, you will always be in the papers. Reporters love you.” Including me. “I am not telling you that this is a silly fear, I understand where you are coming from. I wish this wouldn’t stop you though. You will be the fucking Minister of Magic, you can be a dictator and tell them what cannot be printed,” he said bringing a smile to her face. 

“That’s a nice plan, can you please come on board as my assistant?” 

“I am in!” 

A few moments of comfortable silence followed, both focusing on the food and the conversation that had occurred. 

“Do you sometimes wish we weren’t famous?” she asked. She refilled their wine, on what was now her third one and his second. 

“Do we want to keep a check on our wine, Granger?” 

“No, not tonight. We haven’t been alone in such a long time!”

“I have no complaints then. To answer your question, I have been wishing that since I was twelve. No one really asks me how it felt to have my face in the papers since I was a boy. I have been been adored by reporters, hated by the public, feared by my own classmates. I have wished things beyond not being famous, Hermione.” 

“I am sorry,” she said and took his hand in hers. Fuck. It’s now or never, Draco. 

“Hermione, the flowers are for you,” he whispered. 

“Oh.”

“The suit is also for you.”

“Oh.”

“I am sorry I haven’t been around off late. It’s more than being busy with work.”

“Why didn't you say anything earlier?” He noticed that she hadn't removed her hand from where it was. 

“I am nervous, as you can tell,” he laughed. “You are magical, for the lack of a better word. Hermione, I am not going to play myself down. I know what I can offer you. It’s not much but I vow to make sure it’s always enough if not more. I doubt I have thought of a hypothetical relationship as much as I have these past few months. I definitely haven’t felt anything like this for a while now if not ever.”

“Draco.”

“Let me finish, please? I didn’t want to do this suit and flowers act. Maybe the flowers. I didn’t see a way to tell you how I want to be yours. How much I want you to be mine. Our friends helped me with this, I am grateful for all of them. I would not be sitting in front of you in my most-flattering suit narrating my feelings to you if not for them. You know how I value words, Hermione, so you know I won’t use them lightly. There is no other word except love for the feelings I hold in my heart for you, Hermione Granger. I have looked through dictionaries but no word does justice to my feelings except this one.” Wow. I did it. You did it, you sweet bastard. 

“Are you done talking?” she whispered. 

“Yes. Wait, no. Just this: I love you, Hermione, will you go out with me?” he asked. At this, he removed the box from his pocket. “Sorry, this isn’t a ring. I went to China last month and saw this. I know how much you love jade.” He pulled out the thin bracelet with a tiny jade stone in the centre and handed it to her. 

“You can put it on me,” she smiled, extending her arm to him. Draco fastened it on her wrist and gave it a light kiss. He hoped he wasn’t crossing boundaries. “Thank you, I love it.”

“I am glad.”

She spoke after a few moments of silence. 

“Draco, I am not going to lie to you and claim that I have never thought of you sexually.” Gulp. I was going for romantic. If my body misbehaves, I will blame it on her. “There are times I may have mentioned to Ginny about how being with you would be like.” 

“Thanks, Hermione,” he blushed. She moved closer to him on the bench. 

“I love how understanding you are, Draco. You have been there for me since you reentered our lives, thanks to Harry. If I were to ask myself about my feelings for you, I know what the answer would be. I more than like you, Draco. I love you for the person you are, yes. I can also imagine how good we would be as partners, both in and out of bed,” she grinned at that. “What I am trying to say is that, I would love to be with you, Draco Malfoy. I love you and I like you.”

Draco Malfoy did not have a lot of words after Hermione’s short speech but he found that words weren’t required. Hermione leaned in and laid a soft kiss on his lips. When they parted, he knew he had a grin as large as hers on his face. 

“I usually like clearing tables the Muggle way but tonight, I will choose to make everything vanish,” she giggled and made everything disappear off the table including the flowers. “Can we go to my room upstairs now?” 

“Yes, of course,” he said taking her hand and leading them upstairs. 

An hour later, Hermione, curled up on his chest, whispered, “You can tell Pansy I like you better without a suit than in it, no matter how gorgeous you look in navy blue.” 

“I will remember to give her the message,” he laughed and kissed her hair. “Now, can we go back to what we were doing?” 

“Of course, let’s fulfil the future Minister of Magic’s fantasies,” she grinned. 

“Oh Merlin,” he sighed and pulled her on top of him. “Your wish is my command, ma’am.”

Three years later:

“You may now kiss the bride,” proclaimed Harry standing in the garden at the Burrow. 

Draco Malfoy leaned in and kissed his *wife* Hermione Granger at the very spot that they had first kissed. Their friends and family gave them a loud applause (the Weasleys being the loudest, of course) and showered them with flowers. 

Ron, who had been texting furiously, ran up to the couple with urgency. 

“Guys, I have news!” he told both of them. 

“What does it say?” Draco asked. As calm as he appeared outside, he was restless on the inside. 

“You have it, Hermione. You are the new Minister of Magic!” Ron yelled, loud enough for all the guests to hear. Another round of applause went up and everyone began to gather around the newlywed couple. 

“Congratulations, love,” Draco whispered in his wife’s ears and kissed her deeply. “You deserve this and more.”

“Thank you, now, can we go back to discussing what you will be doing as my assistant?” she whispered and threw him a grin he knew was going to get him trouble five hours later, after having thoroughly spent themselves in bed. 

Worth it, she is worth everything, he thought and pulled her into a tight embrace, grateful to all the stars for bringing him to this moment.


End file.
